Spaniard's Song Brings YouTube Fame ... And Maybe A Job

Enzo Vizcaíno, a 24-year-old unemployed Spaniard, isn't singing for his supper. He just wants a job.

mrenzovic/youtube.com

In his grainy homemade video, Enzo Vizcaíno looks like a busker, strumming away on his ukulele and singing as he roams a Barcelona metro car.

But the lyrics of this song are a bit unusual.

"I've got a bachelor's degree. And a postgrad diploma too ... I worked in a call center and as a cashier ... I'm the king of Microsoft Word!" he croons.

This unemployed journalism grad isn't asking for money; he just wants a job.

Vizcaíno's ode to employment racked up more than 370,000 hits on YouTube in just five days. It's garnered him phone calls from media around the world, and it may even have landed him a paying gig.

"My inbox is overloaded with strangers saying, 'Bravo!' and even some job offers," Vizcaíno, 24, told NPR in a phone interview from his home in Barcelona. "I don't even know how many. One of them was a job offer to play concerts! I guess they liked my ukulele," he laughed.

Vizcaíno's creative stunt was born out of hopelessness in the Spanish economy. Overall, the country's jobless rate tops 27 percent. But for 20-somethings like him, it's pushing 60 percent.

Scores of Spanish youth are scrambling to learn English or German to apply for jobs in northern Europe, where the unemployment rate is lower. Vizcaíno speaks English, Italian and French — in addition to his native Spanish.

"My ideal job would be a TV writer or a journalist — something creative," he said. "But I'm willing to do just about anything."

On his blog, Vizcaíno says he can no longer afford the postage on hundreds of resumes and cover letters he's been sending out, most of which probably "end up in the recycling bin."

"Photocopies have been getting really expensive," he wrote. So he decided to put his resume to music instead, with the help of a friend and a cellphone video camera.

Vizcaíno has experience working for a local radio station and as a cashier at Mediamark, a European chain of electronics stores. All of this is part of his song, incidentally.

"I brought my resume, folded right here, if you want to see it," he sings on the video.

"I'm not holding out a purse, I'm not here to ask for money," he continues. "But maybe you, a friend or a relative need a journalist, a script writer, an editor or composer."

He urges curious commuters on the metro to check out his profile on a Spanish jobs website, InfoJobs.

Asked whether he has any advice for other unemployed grads in his situation, Vizcaíno replied: "Do what you love, have fun with it, and why not put it on YouTube? These days, with our generation in Spain, we have nothing to lose."